Michael Ferris and John Brancato were the screenwriters responsible for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which marked a pretty major departure from Terminator 2, which itself was pretty different from the original Terminator. So they should be right at home taking over the third installment of a similarly erratic franchise, XXX.

The third movie in the series, XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, will indeed feature the return of Vin Diesel in the title role. Diesel and the original XXX director Rob Cohen both sat out the sequel, XXX: State of the Union, but they've agreed to return for the third film. Variety reports that Ferris and Brancato pitched their take on the story just last Friday, which means production on this threequel is moving ahead at a fast clip.

No word on what the story would involve, but I'm guessing some intense action scenes, a few chances for Diesel to flex his muscles, and maybe a one-liner as well. Diesel is in severe need of a hit after this summer's flop Babylon A.D., while Cohen is coming off a big win with the third Mummy movie. Hopefully these new screenwriters can bring what it takes to get Diesel's career up and running again.